NUFORC Sighting 08116

Occurred: 1999-06-07 22:15 Local
Reported: 1999-06-19 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Cortez, CO, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Emitted beams

Star-like object at 60 degrees traversed sky, wavered, made 90 degree turn, blinked bright and dim, then disappeared.

My wife and I were outside our friend's house located west of Cortez, CO. She noticed a bright, star-like object moving from the south of us, below the Big Dipper. It appeared the size of a large planet, and was bright white. It was about at a 60 degree elevation, and moving very quickly across the sky above us, moving at toward the NE from the SW direction. It maintained a straight path to about midhorizon, when it appeared to zip and zag, to our utter amazement. By this time, a couple of minutes, it had moved across nearly 60% of the visible sky (which was crystal clear). We then saw it slow down, and begin a 90 degree turn, taking it toward the NE (toward Durango direction). As it went into that direction, it appeared to brighten and dim slowly, at one point flashing beams from it. Then as it neared about 30 degrees from our point of view, it disappeared. In size it would be taken as a planet or star. It appeared to be very high. It left no tail or trace of its path.

Posted 1999-07-05